Damage to tissues, organs, or other body parts can result from of a wide variety of causes ranging from physical injury to disease or degeneration. The extent to which animals are able to restore normal structure and/or function in response to such events varies considerably across the animal kingdom and can be age- and/or tissue-dependent within a given species. For example, many amphibians are able to fully regrow severed limbs. In contrast, adult humans display minimal capacity to regenerate severed digits, limbs, and most internal organs. Commonly used approaches to the medical and surgical management of damage or loss of body parts in humans include tissue or organ transplantation or grafting and the use of prostheses. However, these approaches have significant limitations. There is a need in the art for compounds that would enhance regeneration, particularly in mammalian species, and for new techniques useful for identifying such compounds.